Ministère des Affaires Etrangères
Ministry of Science
& Technology
Ministère de L’Education Nationale, de
l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la
Recherche
High Council for Scientific and Technological Cooperation
between France and Israel
Call for proposals 2006
Research Networks Program
in
BIOINFORMATICS
Within the framework of the Israeli-French agreement on scientific cooperation, the Ministry of
Science and Technology of the State of Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry
of National Education and Research of France have decided to provide financial support for
Research Networks Projects carried out by scientists of the two countries.
Objectives
The aim of this program is to support the development of a scientific and technological
cooperation between the French and Israeli teams of research. This program would
strengthen the scientific partnerships by enhancing the constitution of bilateral networks of
research cooperation between Israeli and French Team.
Projects should be proposed by two teams (one French and one Israeli).
Each research project will be coordinated by two Principal Investigators (PI), one from each
country.
French and Israeli research teams are hereby invited to submit proposals for research project
undertaking in the field BIOINFORMATICS
It is planned that projects authorized by both sides will begin work in
01/11/2006
General scheme
This program is jointly funded by
-
French Side : by the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères and the Ministère de
l’Education Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche.
Israeli Side : by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
Eligibility
Proposals must meet the following preconditions. Those which do not meet the preconditions
will be automatically rejected, and will not be passed on to the scientific committee for peer
review and evaluation.
1. Proposals must involve a Principal Investigator from each country.
2. The Principal Investigator on each side must be affiliated with an academic institution or a
public or semi-public research institute. Researchers from industry may take part in the
program as partners in teams headed by Principal Investigators from an academic institution
or research institute.
3. The proposal submission must include the application form appended to this call, and the
accompanying materials as defined in the Application Form.
4. Proposals which include experiments with animals must submit the approval of the relevant
Committee for Animal Experimentations.
5. Proposals which involve human beings must submit the approval of the relevant Helsinki
Committee.
Research Topics
Proposals may be submitted in the following areas:
1. Functional and Comparative Genomics
2. Molecular Evolution and Phylogeny
3. Computational Analysis of Biochemical and Regulation Networks
Evaluation Procedures and Criteria
A joint Israeli-French Scientific Committee, composed of scientists from each country will
discuss the proposals and formulate recommendations to the High Council for deliberation
and decision making. Contracts will be signed by the relevant Ministries after the High Council
has reviewed and approved the recommendations of the scientific committee, and all the
necessary procedures will be held by the relevant Ministries.
Evaluation will be based on:
1. Conformity with the definition of program research topics presented above;
2. Scientific merit, with emphasis upon the originality and novelty of the proposed
research;
3. Clarity and quality of the research proposal itself – presentation of the topic, definition
of research objectives, presentation of research methodology and detailed program of
work;
4. Feasibility of the research program;
5. Practical applicability of expected research findings;
6. Prospects for continuation of the research collaboration within other funding
frameworks, such as the EU Framework Program for Research and Technological
Development;
7. Extent of genuine collaboration between the French and Israeli research teams.
8. The level of involvement of young researchers.
Funding Support
Each selected joint project may benefit for a two-year fund. The financial support will be
granted on an annual basis.
The total fund will be supplied to the principal investigators on each side.
The maximum support to joint project for two years is:
 For the French side 60,000 € per project
 For the Israeli side 50,000 US$ per project
The financial framework will allow the funding of 4-6 joint projects.
Funding may be firstly devoted to the costs related to the bilateral nature of the project
(traveling expense of the researchers, scientific meetings, etc.) as well as to support the cost
of research (disposal, publication costs, etc.). Refund of salaries on a monthly basis is
conceivable on Israeli side only.
During the project period, two status seminars (one in Israel and one in France) will be held in
order to examine the progress of the research networks program. The scientific committee
will further decide the country in which the first meeting will be organized. Meanwhile, each
part should then plan to support the flight ticket or the hosting of their foreign partners.
Important : Post-doctoral grants are not available in this program. However, on the French
side, such grants could be supplied through the Chateaubriand program (Israeli fellow to a
French lab), through the Lavoisier program (French fellow to an Israeli lab) or through the
fellowships provided by the French Ministry of Research to the French organisms of research
(CNRS, etc.)
Guidelines for the submission of network research project proposals
1. This call for proposal as well as an application form are available at the following internet
addresses :
http://www.most.gov.il/
http://ambafrance-il.org/sciences/
2. In addition to the electronic submission (see below), proposal (application form and
accompanying material) should be submitted in English in 10 copies on each side. The
application forms and accompanying material (in PDF or DOC Format) should be
submitted together on CD.
For the French side, these copies should
be sent to :
Mme Danièle FRAGER
Direction de la Coopération scientifique
universitaire et de recherche (DGCID)
Sous-Direction de la recherche
244, boulevard Saint-Germain
75303 Paris 07 SP
Tel. : 01 43 17 90 46
Fax : 01 43 17 88 38
For the Israeli side, these copies should
be sent to :
Mr. Avi ANATI
Division for Planning and Control
Ministry of Science and Technology
P.O. Box 49100
Jerusalem 91490
Tel: 02-541 11 70
Fax: 02-582 30 30
3. Applications must provide all the information required and must include all documents, as
indicated in the instructions found within the application form.
Important : French and Israeli sides must send identical applications, i.e.
the application form must be filled out similarly, and an identical full
description of the project (on separate sheets) must be provided by both
sides.
However, each side's principal investigator (PI) is requested to provide the
signatures of her/his own country's partners and official authorities only.
Moreover, only the detailed budget description (on separate sheets) of the
country of PI is requested.
4. Projects should be planned for implementation during a period of two years. The total
yearly budget requested must not exceed per year the limit given in the funding support
section.
5. Deadline : All application submissions including the electronic version must be
received not later than the end of the workday of
15/06/2006
Contracts
1. Upon approval of a particular project, separate contracts will be signed in Israel and
France, respectively, between the responsible agency and the institution of the Principal
Investigator.
2. Israeli researchers may find the text of the contract which will be signed by the Ministry of
Science and Technology with the institutions whose researchers proposals are approved at
the following internet address: www.most.gov.il. The rights and obligations of the sides are
detailed in the contract and its appendices.
3. The project should be planned for two years period, the continuation of the project
for the second year, is dependent upon the positive recommendation of the Joint Scientific
Committee and final approval by the responsible agencies in both countries.
4. While projects are to be authorized for a period of two years, the responsible agencies
reserve the right not to fund a second year of work for scientific-professional, administrative or
budgetary reasons.
Information
Additional scientific information may be obtained from the following:
FRANCE
ISRAEL
Mr. Philippe CARLEVAN
Service Scientifique
Ambassade de France
Migdalor Tower
1/28, Ben Yehuda str.
63801 Tel Aviv
Israel
Dr Mahmoud TAYA
Director for Biotechnology Research
Ministry of Science and Technology
P.O. Box 49100
Jerusalem 91490
Israel
Tel : 03-520 84 28
Fax : 03-520 84 20
E-mail : science@ambafrance-il.org
or technologie@ambafrance-il.org
Tel : 02-5411126
Fax : 02-5815595
E-mail : Mahmoud@most.gov.il
Additional administrative information may be obtained from the following:
FRANCE
Mme Danièle FRAGER
Direction de la Coopération scientifique
universitaire et de recherche (DGCID)
Sous-Direction de la recherche
244, boulevard Saint-Germain
75303 Paris 07 SP
France
Tel : 01 43 17 90 46
Fax : 01 43 17 88 38
E-mail: daniele.frager@diplomatie.gouv.fr
ISRAEL
Mr. Avi ANATI
Deputy Director General
for Planning & Control
Ministry of Science and
Tech.
P.O. Box 49100
Jerusalem 91490
Tel: 02-5411170/3
Fax: 02-5823030
E-mail: avi@most.gov.il
Mrs Claire LEVATON
Division for International Rel.
Ministry of Science and Tech.
P.O. Box 49100
Jerusalem 91490
Israel
Tel : 02-541 11 61
Fax : 02-582 57 25
E-mail: orit@most.gov.il